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In cycling’s quest for ever younger superstars, talent spotting is becoming more crucial and lucrative.
So imagine the pride and happiness agent Jamie Barlow felt when not one but two of his riders became the winners of last month’s junior world road championships, with Italian Lorenzo Finn and Britain’s Cat Ferguson winning gold, the latter also doubling up in the time trial.
After spotting their talent long before they announced themselves on the international stage, it was a pat on the back for Barlow, who has carved out a niche in managing the sport’s up and coming stars.
“My approach is quality over quantity and I like to think, if you look at this year alone and the last few worlds, my hit ratio is really, really high, male and female,” Barlow told Velo.
So how does Barlow manage to persuade the future starlets to be managed by him?
It’s all about building relationships and trust.
‘The sport is transitioning younger’
It was only a half-a-decade ago that school-aged juniors simply didn’t have agents, no matter how good or prodigious they were.
But when Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel adapted to the rigors of WorldTour racing with aplomb as teenagers, cycling’s landscape changed forever.
“It was pretty apparent change was coming, and the sport was transitioning younger,” Barlow said. “Six years ago, 95 percent of juniors didn’t have agents.
“Now, at the junior road races at the world championships, 15 of the top-20 kids will already have a manager. That’s a dramatic change in five years.”
✍️Torres (UAE) is 12th rider U20 at WT in 2025.
18-099: Seixas
18-120: Withen Philipsen
19-052: Torres
19-070: Øxenberg
19-074: Eržen
19-081: August
19-148: Brennan
19-158: Beloki
19-276: Storm
19-322: Bisiaux
19-352: Chamberlain
19-357: Nordhagen— Cycling Statistics (@StatsOnCycling) October 9, 2024
The Irishman previously worked with the Trinity Sports Management for seven years but set up his own shop with 258 Protege in 2021, along with partner and British boxer Anthony Joshua, with a clear vision of how to operate.
“The choice we made was to focus on the next talent and to grow with them,” he said.
“It was where I felt I had success, a good hit rate in the past,” he said. “I felt my biggest skillset was talent ID and that led to signing a lot of great riders. I had a track record in that, so why change it?”
Agent to ‘Generation Next’
On Barlow’s books are the Ineos Grenadiers quartet of two-time Olympic silver medalist Ethan Hayter, his brother Leo, who won the Baby Giro in 2022, time trial sensation Josh Tarling, and American hope AJ August.
Fellow U.S. young hotshot Ashlin Barry, who finished fifth in the road race at the Zürich worlds, is also managed by Barlow.
Whereas some agencies count dozens of athletes, Barlow only manages 17.
“I’m super-selective,” he said. “Different agencies have different objectives, but I prefer the calculated, sniper approach. I sign one rider a year, not 15.”
Earning the trust of sought after wünderkinds takes time – often years – and involves Barlow having regular conversations with their parents and wider entourage before they allow him to manage contract negotiations and other aspects of an athlete’s career.
“I don’t rush out and push them to an agreement after one meeting,” he said. “It might be a year or two of investing in equipment to support them, or advising them on the next likely steps in the coming years.
“We set out a guideline and a map for the next five years and dot along that line the parents’ and rider’s ambitions.”
Too much, too soon?
The explosion of youth domination has generated a conversation around whether or not too many teenagers are being pushed into the senior ranks too early, with concerns that they may be developing at an unsustainable and potentially dangerous pace.
While it’s certainly more lucrative for rider and agent to join a WorldTour team as soon as possible – an agent typically receives between five to seven percent of a managed rider’s salary in commission – Barlow would like to see the UCI implement a rule whereby all riders must complete at least one obligatory year at the U23 level before stepping up.
“I am pretty against riders going from juniors straight to the WorldTour,” he said. “They might have the physical ability, but it’s all the other changes dumped on them in year one.”
Residency permits, house searching and wealth management are all cited by Barlow as “massive, massive changes.”
“For kids coming from Australia or North America at 18 and living away from home for the first time,” he cautioned. “There’s a lot more to it than simply smashing a lab test or pushing out huge watts.”
Cat Ferguson is a ‘generational talent’
Though men can race at the U23 level, and even be slowly introduced to pro racing on WorldTour development teams – “that’s a great system,” Barlow enthused – for the women it’s “sink or swim,” he said.
“It’s extremely limited as there’s no middle U23 tier,” he said of women’s racing. “They race their colleagues at junior level and then go straight to racing Demi Vollering, Marianne Vos, Lotte Kopecky and Lorena Wiebes. It’s not an easy place and they have far fewer options.”
That said, Ferguson seems to have had no bother adapting to professional life.
Binche-Chimay-Binche pour dames (Bel, WE 1.1)
Cat Ferguson (Gbr, Movistar)
Christina Schweinberger (Oos, Fenix-Deceuninck)
Anniina Ahtosalo (Fin, Uno-X Mobility)#BincheChimayBinche #Binche #Chimay #Cycling pic.twitter.com/G3b1DSNaV4— Cycling.be (@cyclingbe) October 1, 2024
Just before she won both time trial and road race goal in Zürich, the 18-year-old began racing with Movistar, and promptly won.
“The phrase ‘generational talent’ gets passed around too much, but Cat really is one,” Barlow said.
Perhaps Finn, Barry and Tarling are, too.
If you’re wondering who is set to light up the sport in the coming years, you’d do a lot worse than check out who Barlow is managing.
“I’m lucky enough to sign some great riders,” he smiled.
